Green Bay - Aaron Rodgers passed his first test as the Green Bay Packers' new quarterback, throwing for 178 yards and a touchdown and scoring on a game-clinching sneak in a 24-19 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night.

Rodgers, who was 18-of-22, got help from the Packers' special teams, running back Ryan Grant and safety Atari Bigby to beat a bitter division rival in his first regular-season start, which came in the wake of Brett Favre's offseason unretirement saga.

Will Blackmon's 76-yard punt return gave Green Bay a 17-6 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Minnesota's Tarvaris Jackson answered with a 23-yard touchdown pass to Sidney Rice on fourth-and-1 to cut the Packers' lead to five with 14:12 remaining. But a 2-point conversion attempt failed when Jackson threw a pass slightly behind Rice in the back of the end zone. [url=index.php?name=Pro_News&amp;aid=80]Read More...[/url].

Did I not say before the season started that Atari Bigby will surprise everyone and make the Pro Bowl? Ha ha. If he continues playing like this...

2 big criticisms:1) we played a sloppy game. Packer fans like to blame the refs but hate to break it to you all, the refs were simply doing their jobs. Mike McCarthy will have a talk with the team fo shizzle. He's not going to put up with this crap in week 2.2) Clock management. Aaron Rodgers screwed up. He had time for a shot in the end zone before the 1st half ended. When you have that much time, you take the shot.

Hats off:1) Atari Bigby.2) Will Blackmon (probably should be #1). I loved seeing Blackmon that aggressive. I remember some Packer fans saying he's going to get killed playing like that, but it's an aggressive game. You got to be aggressive to win. Passive is for soccer players.3) Aaron Rodgers did fine in his debut, besides the clock management mistake.

I think that you made a mistake. Mike McCarthy is the one that told him that he shouldn't take the shot. McCarthy wanted to make it a 2 score game without a chance of a pick, and possibly a pick-6.

As for my hats off...

1) Aaron Rodgers : Did everything right. His team looked like it was gonna fall apart around him, but he had a great night. 80% completion, a huge play, a touchdown pass, a touchdown run, and still had time to get another huge play called back. I don't wanna make any assumptions about his entire career, but I am very happy with last night.

2) Defensive Line : Pressure all night. Tavaris Jackson, even when completing passes was getting caked.

3) Will Blackmon : Finally looks like we will have some talent at a return position. It is exciting to watch.

4) Linebackers : Most notably AJ Hawk. These guys were making good tackles on Peterson all night. On his 2 huge runs, he took it to our CBs (mostly Woodson) and made them look silly. AJ Hawk was in this guy's back pocket all night. As dumb as it might sound, keeping AP to 103 yards is very good.

5) Tavaris Jackson : I have a hard time giving Bigby a lot of credit for an INT thrown right into his bread basket. This guy is awful. As long as he is their QB, they will have difficulty winning the Black and Blue division.

1a) Offensive Line : Much was made of Jared Allen, Kevin Williams, and Fat Williams all coming after Rodgers in his first game. They had a combined 0 sacks, and Jared Allen, their major off season acquisition, had 0 tackles. They looked shaky at first, but they brought it.

I think that you made a mistake. Mike McCarthy is the one that told him that he shouldn't take the shot. McCarthy wanted to make it a 2 score game without a chance of a pick, and possibly a pick-6.

True. I put blame on the wrong party there.
Mike McCarthy wasn't as aggressive this game as he should have been. This wasn't the only part where he didn't go for the throat. We could have put the game away when MN had either 1 or 0 time outs and instead, played conservatively. I don't know why Mike McCarthy did that. Very untrue to his character.

I think that you made a mistake. Mike McCarthy is the one that told him that he shouldn't take the shot. McCarthy wanted to make it a 2 score game without a chance of a pick, and possibly a pick-6.

True. I put blame on the wrong party there.
Mike McCarthy wasn't as aggressive this game as he should have been. This wasn't the only part where he didn't go for the throat. We could have put the game away when MN had either 1 or 0 time outs and instead, played conservatively. I don't know why Mike McCarthy did that. Very untrue to his character.

Because he had a QB in there starting his first game and didn't want to put him in situations where there was significant risk to screw up.

The likelyhood of scoring a TD in third and long in that situation was highly unfavorable and yet with where they were on the field and the time remaining the only REASON to run another play would have been to go for a TD. I say go up by two scores over a team who was having trouble putting points on the board in a situation your more than likely not going to score a touchdown anyways and COULD give the ball up trying.

It wasn't like this was a game where teams were running up and down the field scoring almost every time they had the ball. THAT'S when you don't waste a play. I mean the Vikes had scored all of six points up to half time. Being up two scores would have been huge for the Pack in that case.

I think that you made a mistake. Mike McCarthy is the one that told him that he shouldn't take the shot. McCarthy wanted to make it a 2 score game without a chance of a pick, and possibly a pick-6.

True. I put blame on the wrong party there.
Mike McCarthy wasn't as aggressive this game as he should have been. This wasn't the only part where he didn't go for the throat. We could have put the game away when MN had either 1 or 0 time outs and instead, played conservatively. I don't know why Mike McCarthy did that. Very untrue to his character.

Because he had a QB in there starting his first game and didn't want to put him in situations where there was significant risk to screw up.

The likelyhood of scoring a TD in third and long in that situation was highly unfavorable and yet with where they were on the field and the time remaining the only REASON to run another play would have been to go for a TD. I say go up by two scores over a team who was having trouble putting points on the board in a situation your more than likely not going to score a touchdown anyways and COULD give the ball up trying.

It wasn't like this was a game where teams were running up and down the field scoring almost every time they had the ball. THAT'S when you don't waste a play. I mean the Vikes had scored all of six points up to half time. Being up two scores would have been huge for the Pack in that case.

good post warhawk.

go up two scores or take a gamble and go for the touchdown and still only be up two scores? Either way, you put the pressure on the other teams offense to score twice against our defense that was looking more and more explosive.

while the case can be made for both... in this situation with a first time starter, Mike McCarthy made the right decision. an interception or pick 6 even would have been disaterous to that game and Aarons confidence and even the fan confidence in Aaron.

There's a time to go for the dagger and a time to get the two score lead and put the game into your defense's hands. I myself was pissed that we didn't go for it in real time, but once i heard Mikes explanation I understood it. I dont think it will become a trend and really the last person i want to start second guessing is Mike McCarthy.

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